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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842591">Stitch and Tell</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CC_Writes_Stuff/pseuds/CC_Writes_Stuff'>CC_Writes_Stuff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Make It Hurt: Whumptober 2020 [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, Hurt Claude von Riegan, If You Squint - Freeform, Mutual Pining, Oblivious My Unit | Byleth, Pining, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Sewing, Stitches, Stressed Claude von Riegan, Whump, injuries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 09:42:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,151</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26842591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CC_Writes_Stuff/pseuds/CC_Writes_Stuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stitching a wound up is like sewing patches onto clothes, right? </p><p>Well, if Byleth wants to save Claude, it's not like she has much choice. </p><p>-</p><p>Written for Whumptober Day 20: Field Medicine</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Make It Hurt: Whumptober 2020 [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stitch and Tell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Think we’ve lost them, Teach?”</p><p>Byleth pants, looking over her shoulder at the broken trail of branches and bushes behind her. She doesn’t hear the soldiers anymore, doesn’t see them in the trees, but she can’t be sure, and she wants to keep moving, or at least find a way to cover her tracks better. It would’ve been easier if she wasn’t half carrying Claude away from the fight.</p><p>It was supposed to be a simple battle, getting rid of some bandits on the way to one of the Southern Fódlanese ports and farms to open up supply routes. But apparently, it was a trap, because instead they got a group of Imperial Soldiers that had set an ambush.</p><p>It took several breaks in the fabric of time before all of the Deer managed to escape. During the hustle and bustle of running, Claude had gotten shot down, and then when Byleth had come over to assist, another attack from a cavalry group had gotten them separated from the rest of the Deer.</p><p>Now, here they were, running through a forest in an attempt to escape their pursers and not get captured or killed.</p><p>She thinks they’re far enough away, but Byleth would rather not take that risk. There are only so many times she can use Divine Pulse, and she’s quickly reaching her limit, her magic reserves thin.</p><p>“I don’t know, but we should keep going, just in case,” Byleth says, and she starts to move. Before she can get too far, though, Claude grunts and hisses.</p><p>“Yeah, I said that ‘cause I think I need a break,” he pants out. “Don’t think I can walk another step.”</p><p>Byleth looks down at him, the reason she’s been half-carrying him for the past few kilometers. There’s a large gash across his abdomen from just one of a volley of arrows that had forced him to the ground, bloody and wet. It’s a wonder he’s made it this far, and Byleth suddenly has a bad taste in her mouth for making him walk this far as injured as he was.</p><p>“Yeah… yeah, sorry,” Byleth says, casting another glance over her shoulder. Still no signs of movement, still no sounds of soldiers or rustling leaves, so she turns and helps Claude limp over to the nearest tree and sit down.</p><p>He hisses as they sit, the grass and dirt digging into Byleth’s knees, and mutters out a weak thanks to Byleth. His skin is lighter than usual, sweat on his forehead, and blood dripping down the side of his head from another close call, with a burn and singed clothing on his bicep, and Byleth frowns. The bad taste in her mouth grows.</p><p>“I’m sorry... I should’ve stopped sooner,” Byleth says, forcing her gaze away from his face to the wound. “Especially since you were injured.”</p><p>“It’s fine, my friend,” Claude says with a smile, but they both know it’s strained, brittle and not quite real. He’s in pain, and Byleth’s fingers twitched, but her magic reserves were almost zero with the repeated uses of Divine Pulse and spells to keep the soldiers away from her Deer. Not to mention she’s no Marianne or Mercedes in terms of skill - most of what she knows is simple and clean wound-healing spells. But this is deeper, longer.</p><p>Byleth shakes her head, pulling out the handkerchief she keeps on her at all times, and starts wiping some of the blood off her hands and face. “No, it’s not. I... I should’ve been more susceptible of your injury. I’m sorry.” She really should’ve, with years of mercenary work under her belt and a duty to protect her students, protect Claude.</p><p>“Again, it’s fine, Teach. It jus’ hurts... I don’t suppose you know anything about wound care, Teach?”</p><p>Byleth purses her lips and looks down at the wound, the rip in his clothes, but she can’t see between the layers he wears and the blood.</p><p>“Lift up your shirt, and... and I’ll see what I can do,” Byleth said. She thinks she sees Claude’s cheeks darken, but he complies, lifting up the hem of his shirt until Byleth can see the wound, and she winces when she does.</p><p>It’s a long gash, bleeding a little faster than Byleth would like, and at a deeper glance, looks deep. She frowns, leaning forward. She needs to get that healed, and fast, but... without her healing, there was only one thing she can think to do.</p><p>“Well, Teach?” Claude prompts, and Byleth looks up at him. His face is passive and mouth in a thin line, trying to look nonchalant, but Byleth knows him well enough to see the fear in his emerald-green eyes. “What’s the verdict?”</p><p>She looks down at the wound again, and it makes her stomach flip, palms sweaty. It’s bleeding too much for her comfort, especially now since she doesn’t have the luxury of many more Divine Pulse uses. Even if she could use it, though, there was no way she could pull it back to before he got shot in the first place.</p><p>“I can stitch it up, but it’ll hurt,” Byleth tells him, swinging her satchel off her back and setting it on the ground.</p><p>“You can stitch?” Claude asked. Byleth pursed her lips.</p><p>“Well, it’ll be more like sewing, but yes,” she replied. “When you’re a mercenary, money is tight. It’s easier to sew patches on or stitch clothes back together rather than waste the money on new clothes. Two-thirds of the mercenaries know how to sew.”</p><p>Claude hummed as Byleth pulled out the sewing kit she kept with her. Setting it down, she popped open the case, pulling out the needle and spool.</p><p>She scooted closer to Claude after that, sitting cross-legged next to him, and set the items down. Then, she leaned over and pulled off the black sash with the symbol of the Alliance on it. Claude frowned at her.</p><p>“What’cha... what’cha doing, my friend?” Claude asked, raising a brow. A weak wink and smile, a darkening of cheeks. "That... that eager to get me out of my clothes, hmm?"</p><p>She rolls her eyes - this isn't really the time to joke around. “As I said, this is going to hurt, since it’s not as clean as healing and we don’t have painkillers. And on the off-chance there are still Imperial soldiers nearby, I don’t want anything to alert them, so I’m going to have you bite down on this,” Byleth said, handing it to him.</p><p>He looked skeptical, but nodded, taking the fabric and stuffing it into his mouth. Once he did that, Byleth grabbed the string and hooked it through the hole in the needle and tied it into a knot, before unraveling the string. Personally, Byleth would rather use something else, but it was all she had right now. All she could do was stitch it up, hope it held and hope it wouldn’t get infected.</p><p>Then, she pulled out the flask she kept with her as well, popping it open and dipping the needle into it.</p><p>“Brace yourself - this is going to hurt.”</p><p>Claude nodded, squeezing his eyes shut tight, his hands tightly gripping clumps of grass on the ground. Sucking in a deep breath through her nose, Byleth braced herself, too, and got to work.</p><p>It was a slow, painful process, for both of them. Byleth went as quick as she could to stop hurting Claude and to get the bleeding to stop, but she couldn’t go too fast, either. If she did, the stitches would be sloppy, and they were likely to fall apart and start bleeding again. She was just thankful she had steady hands as she stitched Claude up, occasionally wiping them on the ground to get the blood off.</p><p>Claude, for his part, was relatively still and silent, watching the sky with eyes screwed shut, but he still twitched and squirmed every so often. Occasionally, though, Byleth caught a whimper or hiss escaping past the fabric in his mouth. Each time he squirmed or hissed, the bad taste in Byleth’s mouth grew, and she had to take a moment to recollect herself and try to push down the fuzzy feelings in her chest.</p><p>Finally, she tied the last knot and cut the thread with her dagger.</p><p>“Done,” she said, leaning back on her haunches. When she did, Claude yanked the fabric out of his mouth.</p><p>“Worse ten minutes... of my life,” he hissed out. “And I’m including that time I accidentally got locked inside… inside a broom cabinet with Lorenz.”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Byleth said again as she wiped the blood off the needle and set the spool back into the kit. Her stomach was still turning, the fuzzy feelings still heavy in her chest - she didn’t like causing Claude pain. She closed the sewing kit, setting it back into her satchel, then she grabbed the first aid kit, popping that open, too.</p><p>“No, no, don’t...” Claude breathed, waving a hand. “Your stitching probably... is probably going to save my life, Teach. Just... it just hurts.”</p><p>Byleth frowned, pulling out the roll of bandages from the kit, unsure of what to say to that. Was there anything she could even say? “Can you sit up so I can wrap this around you? It’ll help with the bleeding.”</p><p>Claude hissed, but with Byleth’s help, managed to sit up so Byleth could lean around and wrap the bandages around his abdomen and stomach. Each time her fingers brushed the warmth of his skin, there was a small shock of something that made her chest feel funny again, but in a different way. When she was done, Claude laid back down, grunting and letting out a shaky breath.</p><p>“Alright, that should be it,” Byleth said, packing up the first aid kit. “All we have to do is wait for the Deer. Someone is bound to find us eventually.”</p><p>“No, no, I can… I can keep going,” Claude grunts, shaking his head, and Byleth looks him over. There’s still a wet, red spot on his shirt where the wound had bled through, however, and she frowns.</p><p>“I don’t think you can, Claude,” Byleth tells him in the sternest voice she can. “You lost a lot of blood. It wouldn’t do for you to move right now.”</p><p>Claude looks up at her, and gives her a weak, soft smile that’s a little bit to the left of a real one. “I can, Teach. I’m hurt, but I’m with you,” Claude says, something soft in his voice that makes Byleth’s chest twist.</p><p>“I know you are,” Byleth says, but her gaze is focused on the wound, wrapped in bandages, the color of them stark against the dark of his skin. “But I still don’t think you should be moving. If any Imperial soldiers come, I can take care of them. You just need to focus on resting”</p><p>Claude looks like he wants to argue, but relents, letting out a sigh. “Yeah, I suppose... Everything <em>is</em> spinnin’ a little…” His eyes flutter shut, shifting so one hand is resting gingerly on top of the wound, and the other drops down to his side.</p><p>Byleth’s gaze follows it, and she purses her lips. It’s resting right on top of the dagger he keeps at his waist, the one she’s seen him reach towards whenever he’s startled or approached too quickly from behind.</p><p>Absentmindedly, she reaches over and rests one hand on top of Claude’s own, loosely curling her fingers around it, and the other going to the hilt of her sword. When her hand settles, she sees him open up his eyes and looks at her with a mixture of curiosity, wariness, and something else she can’t name, but it makes her cheeks heat up.</p><p>“I’ll protect you, Claude,” Byleth says, meeting his gaze and doing her best to make her voice sound soft, calm, and she gives his hand a light squeeze. “I promise.”</p><p>He’s silent for a few minutes, looking at Byleth with an expression she can’t describe, but it feels as if he’s looking through her. It’s not the first time she’s received that look from him. Claude’s given it to her in the first few weeks they knew each other, after she got the Sword of the Creator, a few days after the Sealed Forest battle, and a month or so after she reunited with him at the Goddess Tower. It still makes Byleth shiver, though - she can never quite tell what he’s thinking when he looks at her like that.</p><p>After a few seconds of that, though, Claude closes his eyes, nodding. His hand shifts, moving so their fingers are entwined, and it makes Byleth’s stomach flutter. They’re warm, and big against her own, and he squeezes her own once.</p><p>“I know, Byleth, I know.”</p><p>That’s probably one of the few truest things she’s heard from him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes I used the Iconic™ quote</p><p> </p><p>
  <a href="https://ccwritesstuff.tumblr.com/">I Have a Tumblr!</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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